Cover Day , who raced in turf marathons in her earlier 13 begins, relished a cutback in distance and used an explosive late kick in deep stretch to rally from the again to defeat 9-5 favourite She’s Lookin Fortunate by three-quarters of a size within the Nov. 28 $265,000 Cardinal Stakes (G3) on Thanksgiving Day at Churchill Downs.
Cover Day, a 5-year-old mare owned by Jane Bacharach, William DeBurgh, and Richard Schatz, ran 1 1/8 miles over “agency” turf in 1:48.79 to gather the primary graded stakes win of her profession. Early in her 4-year-old season, Cover Day gained the listed $100,000 Astra Stakes at Santa Anita Park over 1 1/2 miles on grass.
Flavien Prat, at the moment the main United States jockey by year-to-date earnings, rode the winner for coach Michael McCarthy. It was Prat’s 78th stakes win of 2024 (one shy of Irad Ortiz Jr.’s file of 79 in 2022) and 53rd graded stakes triumph (two again of Jerry Bailey’s 2023 file of 55).
Breaking from put up 3 within the area of 10 fillies and mares, Cover Day raced in ninth down the backstretch as Dreaming of Mo led the best way with splits of :23.78, :48 and 1:12. Leaving the ultimate flip, She’s Lookin Fortunate drew even with Dreaming of Mo whereas Cover Day nonetheless had one horse beat. Nonetheless in ninth with slightly greater than furlong to run, Prat tipped Cover Day trip to the 5 path and the mare displayed a robust late kick to collar She’s Lookin Fortunate within the remaining yards.
“My plan was to be slightly bit nearer to the tempo and never thus far out of it,” Prat stated. “However, after we broke, we ended up being in direction of the again of the sphere. I obtained her to calm down and once I tipped her exterior she actually discovered her greatest run.”
The triumph was value $147,250 and elevated her earnings to $420,538. Cover Day boasts a file of 4-5-4 in 24 begins.
Cover Day paid $23, $8.94 and $5.54 because the 10-1 sixth betting selection. She’s Lookin Fortunate, ridden by Florent Geroux, returned $3.84 and $3.20. Third-place finisher Queen Regent , below Frankie Dettori, was one other three-quarters of a size again and paid $4.44 to indicate at odds of 6-1.
The order of end was accomplished by Stir Loopy , Dreaming of Mo, High quality Star , Harvey’s Princess , Adrasteia , Implicated , and Magical Lute . Coronary heart Spin was scratched.
Previous to the Cardinal, Cover Day completed seventh of 11 within the $296,738 Dowager (G3) at Keeneland over 1 1/2 miles on turf on Oct. 20.
“She’s been a really good mare and has some run high efforts in races a lot additional than immediately,” stated Justin Curran, McCarthy’s Kentucky assistant coach. “We knew she’d come along with her run and actually closed strongly down the middle of the turf.”
Cover Day, a daughter of Starspangledbanner out of the Montjeu mare Je T’Adore, was bred in Eire by John Yarr.
Video: Falls Metropolis S. (G3)
This press launch has been edited for content material and magnificence by BloodHorse Employees.